One of the most common estate planning mistakes I see — and it’s heartbreaking every time — is the family who paid an attorney to set up a beautiful, comprehensive living trust, put it in a drawer, and never actually transferred their assets into it.
When the husband died, they discovered that their home was still titled in his name alone. It had to go through probate anyway. The trust that was supposed to protect them and save them time and money did neither — not because the trust was bad, but because the real estate was never properly moved into it.
Creating a trust is step one. Funding the trust is step two. A shockingly large number of people stop at step one.
Why Proper Titling Matters So Much
A living trust only controls what’s inside it. If an asset isn’t titled in the name of your trust, the trust has no authority over it. That asset will either pass through your will (and potentially through probate) or, if you have no will, according to your state’s intestacy laws — which may not reflect what you wanted at all.
For real estate, this can mean:
- Your family has to open a probate proceeding just to transfer the house
- The process takes 12–18 months, sometimes longer
- It becomes public record — anyone can see what you owned and who got it
- Your family pays court costs, attorney fees, and executor fees out of the estate
- Property that crosses state lines may require a separate probate in each state
If you own real estate in multiple states — a primary home in California and a vacation home in Colorado, for example — and neither is in a trust, you could be looking at two separate probate proceedings. That’s two sets of attorneys, two sets of court costs, and twice the delay.
What “Titling in a Trust” Actually Means
Transferring real estate into a trust requires recording a new deed that changes the owner from you personally to you as trustee of your trust. The exact format varies by state, but it generally looks something like: “Jane Smith, Trustee of the Jane Smith Revocable Living Trust dated January 1, 2024.”
This is a legal document that gets recorded with your county recorder’s office. It’s not a form you fill out online. But it’s also not as complicated as it sounds — with the right guidance, many people handle this with minimal attorney involvement.
The key is doing it correctly. A deed that’s improperly prepared or recorded can create title problems that are expensive to fix — sometimes more expensive than probate would have been in the first place.
What Properties Should Go Into Your Trust
Generally, you want to transfer into your trust any real property you own and want to avoid probate on. This typically includes:
- Your primary residence
- Vacation homes or secondary properties
- Investment or rental properties
- Land or undeveloped property
- Real estate held in your individual name (as opposed to an LLC or partnership)
There are a few situations where you might not want to transfer property directly into a trust — certain tax considerations, properties with outstanding issues, properties in an LLC — and those are worth discussing with an attorney. But for most straightforward real estate ownership, the default answer is: yes, it belongs in your trust.
What the Guide Covers
I put together How to Title Real Estate in a Living Trust because this is the step where people get lost — and where small mistakes have big consequences. The guide walks through the entire process: what a deed transfer involves, how to confirm your property is currently titled, what information you need to gather, what the new deed should say, how to record it, and how to notify your mortgage lender and insurance company so nothing inadvertently lapses.
It also covers the situations where titling is more complicated — multiple owners, community property states, properties with mortgages, vacation homes in other states — so you can identify when you need professional help and what questions to ask.
Don’t let a $19 step undo a $5,000 estate plan. Get the titling right.
Get the Real Estate Titling Guide — $19 →
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The information in this post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. Please consult a qualified estate planning attorney for guidance specific to your situation.